


The One Where Beca Rescues Emily

by Rottenspark



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bemily Week, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-04-04 12:03:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14019840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rottenspark/pseuds/Rottenspark
Summary: Emily goes missing.Beca is intent on finding her.BEMILY.FINALLY FINISHED IT!!! Woo.





	1. Chapter 1

Emily was missing.

Her roommate said she’d gone out yesterday morning in exercise clothes, but she’d never come back. It wasn’t like her not to text when she was going to be out for the night, even if she was just last-minute crashing at the Bella house.

Beca twisted her hands together nervously as Chloe split up the Bellas into search teams. They’d already called the police, who’d initiated their own search, but the Bellas couldn’t exactly sit around while the youngest of them was MIA.

Amy and Lily would drive around town looking for her. Chloe and Cynthia Rose would hit up the dorm rooms of every student in every one of her classes, because who knows, maybe it was just a study sesh turned sleepover. Stacie would attempt to track down a guy from Emily’s first semester, Steve Something, who’d worked with Emily on a project and gotten kind of stalkerish afterwards.

Chloe turned to Beca, who was staring intently at one spot on the floor, hands busy contorting themselves. “Beca, why don’t you—

“I’ll take the woods.”

Everyone stared at her. Beca’s breath caught, realizing it sounded like she was looking for a body. She shuddered.

“Sometimes she hikes, guys,” Beca added.

The girls shared a communal exhale.

Chloe nodded enthusiastically. “Flo, why don’t you go with her—

“Yeah, I’m just gonna.” Beca headed for the door, walking backwards with her hands raised. “Go by myself.”

It was what she did, anytime her emotions were overwhelming: self-isolate.

Chloe understood and let her go.

//

Beca felt like her every sense was on fire. She walked fast along the hiking trail, eyes darting every which way, scanning the trees for any sign of Emily. It was a bright, sunny Tuesday morning, the woods fresh and cool, but it might as well have been hell on Earth.

Where was Emily? How could she be so fucking irresponsible?

Beca swallowed down the thought that maybe she wasn’t being irresponsible, that maybe she was in trouble and hurting or worse—

“Keep it together,” Beca muttered to herself, trying to catch her breath.

It was just… Emily. Sweet, bubbly, innocent Emily, who thought giving strangers rides home was a good idea and trusted everyone implicitly. Of course she’d gotten in trouble, Beca thought. That’s what happens when you let yourself be so stupidly positive and thick to all that was wrong with the world and totally, infuriatingly good.

Didn’t Emily know that characters like that are only put in stories to die?

“She’s not dead,” Becca murmured, plodding forward.

//

Beca hiked until late afternoon, checking her phone like every three minutes for any updates from the girls. So far nothing. Beca was getting a sinking feeling in her stomach.

She came to an opening in the trail, where the trees cleared away and let you see just how high you’d climbed. If her every nerve ending weren’t fried with panic, Beca might have appreciated just how beautiful the view was. As it was, the slanting golden light over acres and acres of trees just pissed her off, being so out of sync with her current mood of total meltdown.

She struggled to control her breathing, her thoughts, which kept straying to nightmarish visions of Emily hurt, alone, attacked, kidnapped, or—

“Hello?”

Beca jolted. She whipped her head around to find the source of the cry, which had sounded so soft and feeble.

“Beca? Is that you?”

Beca exhaled hard. At least fifteen feet below, on a scarily slim ledge of rock, was Emily. Beneath the girl, the earth gave way to another drop of at least thirty feet, and below that was just a bunch of rocks where the dried-up creek used to run.

“Emily? What the—what the hell are you doing down there? Are you okay?”

“I’m hurt. My ankle.” The crumpled figure on the rock started to scramble upright.

“Legacy, don’t move.” Beca was so relieved, and yet also disturbed. Emily sounded so young and scared, and that ledge didn’t look very safe for someone who _didn’t_ have a history of tripping over perfectly flat surfaces. “I’m going to go get help, okay?”

“Please don’t leave me!”

“I’ll be right back, I swear. We’re gonna get you out of here.”

“Please, please don’t go,” Emily pleaded.

Beca sighed. She couldn’t leave Legacy here, when the poor kid was clearly scared out of her mind. And hurt. And alone, and everything Beca had been afraid of and God, what had Emily been thinking, hiking up here all by herself?

Beca looked to her cell phone, but it didn’t have any service this far up. That explained why Emily hadn’t called for help. The older girl scanned the fifteen feet down to the ledge. It looked fairly climbable, with lots of handholds and smaller ledges.

“Please don’t leave me,” Emily said again, and this time she was clearly crying.

Before Beca had really made up her mind, she was clambering down the side of the mountain, being careful with every step she took. If she fell and got hurt, then they’d both be stuck here and shit, why was she being so stupid? Anyone could see the right thing to do was ignore Emily’s pleas and go get help.

But she couldn’t. The kid was crying. She’d spent the night out here alone, probably thinking she was going to die.

Beca couldn’t leave Emily like that, even if it was the obviously logical thing to do.

//

When Beca set her feet on the ledge, she realized just how fully how stupid she had been to climb down. The ledge was just a couple feet wide, maybe six feet long, and the drop to the rocks below was intense.

But before Beca could fully process how bad she’d fucked up, Emily was wrapping her arms around her tightly and sobbing, these shuddering, full-body sobs. Beca hugged her hard and stroked her hair, which was in two braids that were falling out and threaded with dirt and grass.

“It’s okay,” Beca murmured. “I’ve got you.”

“I was so scared.”

Beca started to calm down, now that she had a living, breathing Emily in her arms. She pulled away from Emily and looked into her tear-streaked face. “Let’s talk about hiking, and how we always take a buddy with us from now on?”

Emily nodded and hugged Beca hard again, sobbing some more.

After a while, Beca gave her a squeeze and said, “Let’s see this ankle, huh?”

She helped Emily slump down against the rock wall, and sunk down beside her. When the girl pulled her legs into her chest, Beca couldn’t keep from gasping. Emily’s left ankle was bruised and swollen and bent all wrong. She also had scrapes up and down her arms and a bad gash on her knee, crusted over with blood.

Beca felt dizzy all of a sudden. “Okay. Yeah.”

“Beca?”

She swallowed a wave of nausea. _Keep it together, Mitchell. The girl’s suffered enough already without you passing out on her._

“Fine,” Beca squeaked, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again.

“I didn’t.” Emily hugged her legs into her chest, pressing her forehead into her knees. “I didn’t know what to do. I was looking at the view and trying to get, like, the perfect picture and I guess I just lost track of my footing—

“This happened because you were taking a _picture_?”

Beca’s tone is harsh, and Emily’s whole body flinches. The younger girl goes on softly, “I know, it was so stupid. I’m such an idiot, I don’t even deserve to live—

Beca flung an arm over Emily’s shoulders and squeezed her closer. “Stop. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I just…” Beca took a deep breath in and released it. “You gave me a real live heart attack, Legacy.”

Emily’s voice was soft and uncertain. “Is everyone, like, freaking out?”

“Oh, yeah. Full-scale. You’re going to have some ‘splaining to do, miss.”

Emily shrunk, and Beca cursed herself for being so harsh again. Why the fuck couldn’t she just comfort someone?

She gave Emily another squeeze and reached her hand over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

“It’ll be okay. Everybody’s going to be so happy you’re alright they’ll forgive you pronto.”

“Right.” Emily sniffed. “Do you, um. Do you have any food?”

//

  
Beca had brought the small backpack she always took when she went hiking, which contained two bottles of water, a Cliff bar, and a pack of Twizzlers. Emily tore into the Twizzlers first, downing at least a dozen of the red strips in about a minute.

Beca opened a bottle of water and pushed it into the girl’s chest. “Drink. You’re all, like, parched looking.”

The younger girl glugged down half the bottle and took a long, shuddering breath. Then she went on eating Twizzlers, but more slowly. The sun was going down, a slight chill in the air. Now that Beca knew Emily was safe, she could appreciate how beautiful the sky was as color tore through the clouds. The trees below them were dark as pitch, soundless and peaceful.

“Um, so.” Beca took the bottle from Emily and capped it carefully, placing it in her pack before a certain clumsy person could drop it off the cliff. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to go home tonight. You’re all, well, you’re pretty banged up, and it’s a couple hours’ hike down to the road, and we’re not going to be able to see in the dark.”

Chewing carefully, Emily leaned into Beca’s side. “What should we do?”

“Well, much as I relish the idea of spending the night on this ledge, I think we should at least try to climb back up tonight, you know?”

“Beca, I.” Emily gulped. “My ankle hurts a _lot_.”

“I know. But we’re going to get through it together. Okay?”

Emily was silent a few moments. Beca felt her swallow hard. “Okay.”

//

It was rough going. Beca didn’t know how she was going to get this girl with a broken ankle up a fifteen foot climb, but she pretended to be confident, not wanting to scare Emily with her own level of scared. Beca really didn’t think it was a good idea for them to spend the night on the ledge, because after Emily was done eating she looked on the verge of falling asleep, and Beca wasn’t into any further plummeting.

Shit, this was bad.

She swallowed her anxiety, for Emily’s sake, and took off the plaid shirt under her hoodie. This she wrapped around and around Emily’s ankle while the tall girl gritted her teeth and clearly tried hard not to cry. Beca had no idea if this was the right thing to do. She just thought it would help keep the broken bones from moving too much.

When she was done, she patted Emily’s cheek. Teary-eyed, Emily eked out a smile. Now they just had to make it through the next part.

Beca had Emily go first. The girl was stronger, now that she’d eaten, and managed to climb about three feet before her ankle landed weird on a jutting rock.

“Ouch!” she cried. “Beca?”

“I am right behind you, Em. Right here. You’re not going to fall.”

“I am, though.” Emily’s voice was husky with tears. “I’m going to fall.”

“No, you’re not. Come on, Junk. You can do this.”

Emily nodded, gripping her handhold so hard her wrists were shaking. She reached her good leg up and pushed herself higher.

“That’s it,” Beca said, ignoring the way the rocks below seemed to be taunting her with their sharpness. “You got it, Em.”

A few feet higher, Emily got stuck again, and Beca found herself belting the theme song from _Dawson’s Creek_ at the top of her lungs, anything to distract her.

“What is that?” Emily yelled, half-laughing and half-crying.

“Um, _Dawson’s Creek_? Hello?”

“Oh, right. I’ve heard of that.”

“Keep climbing, fetus!”

Finally, finally, Emily pulled herself over the edge of the cliff and disappeared for a second, only to reappear a second later and watch Beca scramble the rest of the way up. Beca had not, repeat, had _not_ been cool with hanging off the side of a cliff in the dark, the wind whooshing through the small hairs on her arms and giving her visions of her imminent death. But she’d managed to maintain her air of confidence until the very moment Emily was safe, at which point she hustled up that cliff like a bear was chasing her.

At last, she rolled onto her back onto flat ground, stomach heaving up and down.

“Beca, you alright?”

“Give me. A minute. Legacy.”

//

There wasn’t really any good place to crash unprepared outside at the top of a mountain, but they settled for the flat, clear area that looked out on the view. Actually, a good ten feet from the view, because Emily.

They dropped down onto the packed dirt path and lay side by side, just breathing. It was a little cold, and Beca felt very aware of how very unsheltered they were. She didn’t think she’d ever gone to sleep quite this _outside_ before, with nothing between herself and the sky.

“Beca?” Emily said, jolting her from a miraculous near-slumber.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Beca sighed and patted Emily’s arm. “Thank me when we’re out of the woods, okay?”

“Kay.”

Another few moments passed, and Beca was falling asleep again when Emily said, “Beca?”

“Jesus, Legacy. You keep scaring the shit out of me.”

“Oh God. Sorry. I should let you sleep. You, like, totally rescued me from my idiotic fall and now I’m paying you back by bothering you to death—

“Emily.” Beca sat up and faced the girl, who lifted her head with wide eyes. “Please stop talking trash about yourself. There is not a lot I don’t like about you, but I really, really hate when you do that.”

Emily swallowed hard and smiled feebly. “Okay.”

And then, because Beca was sure the girl was going to wake her up again, and _only_ because of that, Beca turned on her side and wrapped an arm around Emily, pulling her close.

Emily stiffened for a second, like she was surprised—which, okay, understandable—and then scrunched in even closer and put her hand on Beca’s arm.

Even though they were outside, and it was kind of cold, and there were actual rocks jutting into Beca’s side, she never slept more peacefully.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your wonderful comments! This story is still stuck in my head, so I added another chapter. It was so much harder to write than the daring cliff rescue and fluffy comfort stuff!

Beca woke up the next morning to the sound of birds. And a very, very stiff neck.

And an empty space beside her.

“Em?”

She sat up and rubbed at her neck. Overhead, the sun was shining, and it was already a warm, beautiful morning. Maybe even a late beautiful morning. God, how long had she slept?

Where was Emily?

It was a little too soon for the girl to go missing again. Beca’s nerves were still shot from yesterday. Already panicking, she got to her feet and walked to the edge of the clearing.

“Emily?!”

“Here!”

Beca whirled around and saw her limping out of the woods.

“Sorry,” Emily said. “I didn’t want to wake you. I finished the one water bottle so I went to fill it up in the creek and try to get some of this, um, blood off me—

Beca cut her off with a fierce hug. “You. You are banned.”

Surprised, Emily squeezed her back. Her hair smelled like the woods. “From what?”

“Everything. Forever.” Beca pulled away and scowled into the younger girl’s bewildered face. “ _Stop_ wandering off.”

Emily looked amazed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Beca sighed and shook her head. “Come on, we shouldn’t have slept so late. Everyone’s still looking for you.”

Emily frowned and looked at the ground. “Right.”

//

They finished off the Twizzlers and the Cliff bar, and then it was time to figure out how to get back down to civilization.

Thankfully, Beca was just about the perfect size to serve as a crutch for the taller girl, who draped her arm over Beca’s shoulders and leaned on her heavily as they inched along.

They were mostly silent, with Emily consumed by the effort of hiking down a bumpy trail on a broken ankle. Beca was huffing and puffing, too, not used to supporting a whole other person while, oh yeah, descending a mountain.

Still, Beca could have swum in her relief at having Emily there, mostly okay and headed for safety. Yesterday, having to live through eight hours of not knowing where she was, had been harrowing.

Then there’d been the part after, when she’d held Emily all night long, the younger girl’s chest rising and falling under Beca’s arm, the crown of her head tucked under Beca’s chin. That part had been… “nice” was the wrong word.

The right words made her uncomfortable.

Shit.

//

“Beca, I need a break.”

Emily was breathing hard, slumping even more heavily against Beca’s shoulders.

Beca nodded and helped the girl ease to the ground. Then she sat down herself, catching her breath. They’d been hiking two hours already, but they hadn’t gotten very far. Beca hoped everyone wasn’t too worried…but then again, shit, never mind. They were for sure flipping the fuck out. Her dad was going to kill her.

She pulled the remaining water bottle out of her pack and took a few sips, then handed it to Emily. Even though the girl was okay, she still didn’t look right, all dehydrated and pale from two nights in the woods. Her ankle was going to take some time to heal.

“Thanks,” Emily said, and took a long drink. She offered the bottle to Beca.

“Finish it,” Beca said.

“You need to drink, too.”

“Yeah, I’m not the one with blood all over me. So.”

Emily smiled weakly and drank some more. They sat in silence, listening to the birds.

“I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” Emily said.

“Dude, repay?”

“I’m serious. You saved my life. I—I didn’t think I could climb up, and nobody was coming, and if you hadn’t come along I don’t know what would’ve happened—

“Can we not go there?” Beca smiled painfully.

Emily stopped talking, astonished, and drank some more water.

“How’d you know where to find me?” Emily asked quietly, after a few moments had passed.

Beca shrugged, moving her fingers in the dirt. “I knew you liked to hike." 

“You did?”

Beca shrugged again, not wanting to get into just how closely she’d been watching the freshman since she’d started at Barden. It was just…feelings made Beca uncomfortable, and strong feelings, well, Beca was sure there were harder things in life than talking about them, but she hadn’t figured out what those things were yet.

“It’s just.” Emily blinked and looked at the ground. “You know, you kind of seem to. I don’t want to offend you or anything. You, well, you talk to everyone but me, you know? Like, you avoid me.” She went on, more quietly. “I’ve noticed.”

Beca looked up and swallowed hard.

Emily took one look at her and bounded into more verbiage. “I’m so sorry. You totally, like, you don’t have to pay any attention to me. I’m just some freshman, and you’re _Beca Mitchell_ , and jeez, what am I going on about? Forget I ever started talking. Let’s go back to the part before I said anything—

“Emily.”

The girl stared at Beca with wide, frightened eyes.

“I…” Beca shut her eyes and breathed out in a whisper, “I like you, okay?”

“What?”

“Yeah, not saying that again.”

“No, really, I didn’t hear you.” Emily pointed at her ears. “Human, not bat.”

Beca sighed. “I think you’re awesome, alright?!” she blurted angrily.

Emily blinked. “You think I’m awesome,” she said slowly, “so you avoid me?”

“Can we _not_? Do this?”

Emily blinked some more, tilting her head and scrunching her eyebrows. “Do…you…? I…what…?” She pointed at her chest, looking even more confused. “Me?”

“Yes, okay? Yes. But I.” Beca stood and faced away from Emily. “Shit. I’m sorry, Legacy—

“Don’t call me that.”

Beca turned around.

The girl was clambering to her feet with an angry look on her face. “I am not a child.”

Beca flinched, shaking her head. “That’s not it, Em—

“No, you don’t think I can handle your feelings or whatever. But can you give me half a second to make up my own mind instead of trying to make it up for me?”

Beca stared at her, open-mouthed. “It’s not that. You’re.” Beca squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “New. And, like, excited about everything all the time and I.” She sighed. “I’m annoyed and antisocial just waking up in the morning, you know? Do you get what I’m saying?”

She opened her eyes, and Emily was staring at her in confusion.

“Forget it,” Beca said. “Let’s just…not talk about this anymore, okay?”

“Beca, you're like the coolest person I know.” Emily stepped closer and stared at Beca intensely, as if she were trying to hold her there with her gaze. “I think you’re super interesting, and talented, and pretty, and I’m going to have to think some more about feelings but—

Beca kissed her hard, clutching the back of her head.

Emily stiffened, then softened, exhaling into Beca’s mouth. Then she kissed Beca back in the softest way, her fingers grazing down the sides of Beca’s face and landing on her shoulders.

Beca pulled away first, with a shiver. They stared at each other, dazed and breathing.

“Whoa,” Emily whispered.

//

“So you’ve avoided me all this time because…you like me,” Emily said.

They were heading down the mountain again, breathing hard and lurching along.

Every few minutes, Emily rattled off another statement, like the girl could only process things by saying them out loud.

“And you, you came out here to find me all by yourself because, because you like me.”

More silence. More breathing and slow progress.

“And we just, like, kissed and it was really nice and good.”

Beca chanced a look at her, only to glimpse wide, concerned eyes and a scrunched forehead.

Beca turned to the ground and sighed. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of: infecting the legacy with her shitty angst and general life confusion.

She should’ve just kept her mouth shut, and also to herself. What was wrong with her?

//

“Beca?!”

It was Chloe who spotted them first.

“Oh, God.” Chloe rushed forward and threw her arms around both of them. “Thank God.”

Soon enough, they were being swarmed by the other Bellas, who’d clearly launched their own search party after Beca hadn’t come back last night. In all their hugging and shouting, Emily was pulled away from Beca, but that didn’t stop the younger girl from glancing over at her every few seconds as they were force-fed granola bars and water.

Sounding weak and tired, Emily explained what had happened, leaving out a few key details.

Chloe squeezed Beca’s shoulders and kissed her cheek when Emily described how Beca had climbed down to the ledge and gotten them both to safety.

Then the mob of them started back down the mountain together. The girls around Emily were practically floating her along, everyone relieved and giggling and happy. Beca used the opportunity to fade to the background, as she’d always been so good at doing.

As soon as they were out of the woods, and Emily’s mom was being called, and the other girls had everything under control, Beca got the hell out of there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's going to be one more part. Hope you've enjoyed so far! I've never written these characters before and am still settling into their voices. 
> 
> Oh! I lifted the "You're banned" dialog from a Jessica Jones fanfic. I can't find the fic, but I loved those lines and they popped out here.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, fanpeople! I am really sorry the end of this story took… six months. Life is weird. 
> 
> Hope it’s worth the wait!

Beca decided the best thing to do was act like nothing had happened between her and Emily. Denial wasn’t the greatest coping mechanism ever, but it had served her well in the past.

Well, it hadn’t exactly served her _well_ , but it was the best she could do.

She ignored Emily’s pointed looks during Bellas practices and skedaddled immediately afterwards, so Emily could never get her alone.

(It helped that Emily was on crutches and couldn’t move very fast. Not that Beca was happy about that—obviously she wasn’t—but it was easy to get away from someone who had to vault themselves along on giant sticks.)

At first Emily didn’t seem to get the message—that Beca didn’t want to continue their…conversation from up on the mountain—but after a few weeks of Beca’s very obvious fleeing, Emily’s pointed looks became less frequent, and in fact, she seemed to stop making eye contact with Beca altogether.

Which like, awesome. Beca had managed to take a perfectly functional friendship and turn it completely awkward. Great.

 

//

She thought of the kiss a lot, despite her best efforts not to.

It wasn’t right of her to fall for the freshman. How many times had Beca rolled her eyes at guys doing stuff like that?

And Beca was leaving at the end of the school year, while Emily was going to spend three more years here. What was Beca going to do, lock Emily into a long-distance relationship?

Beca could barely do regular-distance relationships.

Still, she found herself staring at Emily any chance she got, anytime Emily wasn’t sure to notice.

She loved the way Emily’s eyes lit up in conversation. The way, whenever Beca sang out a new arrangement, Emily would shut her eyes and smile and let the music wash over her.

If there was anything Beca could recognize, it was love of music like a deep instinct.

Beca’s feelings for Emily were with her always, a low-level ache. She thought this might be how it feels to die a slow and painful death.

//

“Hey there!”

Chloe popped out of the practice room just as Beca was about to walk into it, so that Beca almost rammed right into her.

“Jesus, Chloe!” Beca stumbled backwards.

Chloe clasped both Beca’s hands and pulled Beca close. “Can we talk?”

“Late, Chlo. Can it wait?”

“Nope.”

“Okayyy. Um. What, then?”

Chloe scrunched up her nose. “Emily.”

“Mmhmm. What about her?”

“She needs someone to carry her geology project to class after practice. That person.” Chloe winked. “Is you.”

Beca felt panic ebb through her. “Chloe—

Chloe pulled Beca even closer, so they were nose to nose, which was the kind of shit literally only Chloe could get away with. “We are all tired of watching this little avoidance dynamic, Becs. You need to talk to her or we are all going to die of the tension.”

“Chloe!” Beca squeaked.

Chloe dropped Beca’s hands and headed into the practice room. “Just breathe, honey. From the diaphragm.”

//

All through practice, Beca scowled and avoided eye contact with everyone, which is a hard thing to accomplish when you are leading the practice.

She couldn’t believe they’d all been talking about her behind her back. It was one thing to notice she’d been weird and dysfunctional towards Emily; it was another to discuss it amongst themselves and, ugh, try to save Beca from herself.

Look, if she wanted to avoid something and let it eat her alive slowly and painfully, that was her right.

As soon as they finished rehearsing, everyone cleared the room like scattering flies. Everyone, of course, except Emily, who sat on a folding chair staring at her knees. Though she couldn’t dance with the rest of the group, she could obviously still sing, so Chloe had been plopping her at the edges of the choreography until she was back on her feet.

Beca cleared her throat.

Emily looked up at Beca for second, then returned her gaze to her lap. Beca noticed her eyebrows were furrowed.

“Hey,” Beca said softly.

Emily looked up and gave a nervous smile. “Hey.”

Beca scanned the room, rocking back and forth on her heels. “I’m told there’s a geology project that needs transporting?”

“Yeah, I—sorry you got roped in.”

“No, that’s okay.”

“Stacie was supposed to do it.”

“Em, it’s fine.”

Emily nodded and gulped visibly.

Beca gave a pained smile, marveling at how this was turning out to be even more awkward than she imagined. “So, where is this thing? Don’t tell me it’s a volcano or something.”

Emily’s face reddened.

“It’s a volcano, huh?”

“I know it’s lame.”

“What? No,” Beca said. “What I meant to say is, is it a volcano because I’d sure love to see one of those right about now.”

Emily rolled her eyes.

“I’m happy to help you, Emily,” Beca said seriously.

Emily looked up and nodded, still looking uncertain.

“Hey, um.” Beca swallowed. Her thoughts were racing. She wanted to say something like _How have you been?_ or even _I’m really sorry for being such a dick_ but what came out instead was, “Ankle.”

“What?”

Beca cleared her throat. “Your ankle. How is it?”

Emily shrugged and started gathering up her crutches. “Doctor says I’ve got another three weeks all casty. After that I get one of those, you know, snap-on things, which I’m not exactly excited about but I guess it’ll be better than showering in plastic wrap.” She scrunched up her nose, as if processing how unpleasant she found that. “But I guess I’m still just happy I didn’t get hurt worse.”

Beca gazed at Emily’s tall, gangly frame as she hoisted herself to her feet. “Yeah, me too.”

Emily looked at the floor and knitted her eyebrows together. “I wanted to say thank you—

“Em, you don’t have to—

“No, listen. I wanted to say thank you, but then you kept on avoiding me, and then I wanted to say what gives? And then I just gave up on the idea of ever talking to you again, because that seemed like what you wanted, and now, um. Now you’re supposed to carry my volcano.”

“Emily—

“Could you, like, tell me what’s going on? With you and me? Because I am so dang confused.”

Beca shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Was the kiss that bad?” Emily said quietly. “Did it, like, cancel your feelings or something?”

Beca’s eyes popped open. “What, no? Jesus.”

“Because that’s what it feels like.” Emily stared at her feet.

“Emily.” Beca walked closer and, after a moment of hesitation, gripped Emily’s bicep. Emily still didn’t lift her eyes. “It was a really good kiss.”

Emily looked up. “That’s what I thought.”

“It was.” Beca paused, willing herself to produce words. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

“Me either.”

And suddenly they were both smiling at each other, and it seemed like they were about to have their second kiss, but then Beca remembered all of the twisted-up thoughts she’d been having over the last few weeks and dropped her hand from Emily’s arm.

“We can’t.”

Emily tilted her head. “Why not?”

“Because. Because—logistics, you know? I’m leaving, you’re staying. The end of the year will be here before you know it.”

Emily studied her curiously. “But, if we like each other, we can make it work.”

“Can we though?” Beca inhaled.

“Yes. I mean, personally I think so. I might be a little biased because I really like you and I don’t know how much you like me, but I’d be willing to find ways to make it work.”

“You…really like me?”

Emily flushed red, her eyes skirting around the room. “Oh. Um. Ha ha. That appears to be what I just said. So. Must be true.”

Beca laughed to herself.

“Wow, you’re laughing,” Emily said. “Could I get a translation on that, because I think I’m going to die.”

“I’m laughing because I like you, too. A lot.”

Emily beamed, her smile spreading almost to her ears. “So, we both really like each other. Enough to make it work.”

“It would seem.”

They both started grinning like idiots, before Emily’s smile vanished suddenly.

“I have terms. If we’re really going to do this.”

“Terms.” Beca swallowed.

Emily nodded. “There will be none of this…running away from problems. I won’t have it.”

“You won’t _have_ it?”

“You heard me.”

“Hmm.” Beca crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s a tall ask from a tall girl, Legacy. Running away from problems is one of my core mechanisms. See also sarcasm and procrastination.”

“Well, you’re going to have to make progress on that particular issue. Because literally running away from me for weeks? It did not please me.”

Beca cringed. “I’ll work on it.”

“Thank you.”

“Any other terms I should know about?”

Emily rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, as if she were considering, then smiled. “That’s all for now. Other needs and demands will be forthcoming.”

Beca smiled. “Kay. I have a term.”

“What’s that?”

“No hiking alone ever. I mean ever.”

Emily smiled and looked at her feet. “Not even so you’ll come rescue me?”

“Absolutely freakin’ not.”

They both laughed, and then there was a moment of silence, their mutual relief and happiness charging the air between them.

Beca glanced at Emily’s lips and swallowed.

Emily nodded.

And then Beca was kissing her tentatively, and Emily was returning the kiss much less tentatively, dropping her crutch with a clatter and gripping the side of Beca’s face and leaning heavily on Beca’s shoulder, and Beca thought the swooping feeling in her stomach felt a little like falling. In a good way.

As they pulled apart, Emily breathed, “I still need you to carry my volcano.”

Beca struggled to catch her breath. “Yeah, was kind of hoping that was made up to get me to talk to you.”

“No, it’s real.”

“Okay.”

They kissed some more, until Emily started to get tired from holding herself up on one crutch, and Beca helped her into a chair, which made it hard and uncomfortable to keep kissing but Beca didn’t care. Fuck it, she was going to make it work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> If you’d like, follow me on that other website I don’t think we’re supposed to mention. I am Rottenspark there as well. I am new to the site and basically flailing around idiotically.
> 
> (I do produce music, however, so I am excited to get some of that on there if I can figure out how.)

**Author's Note:**

> I might add more to this! Or I might leave as is. Thanks for reading!


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